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Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis of a Hero
Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis of a Hero is a platform video game developed by Sonic Team and published by Sega for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and PC. Being a improved version of the original Sonic the Hedgehog, ''the game features 2.5D graphics, revamped level design and cutscenes. The game was released on 19 March 2019. Plot Sonic the Hedgehog, the main hero of the game, arrives on South Island - a lush, tropical paradise populated by various kinds of animals. However, his activity on the island alerts Dr. Eggman - an evil megalomaniac scientist, who was keeping a eye on South Island due to six mystical Chaos Emeralds lying somewhere deep in the island. Fearing that Sonic will interfere with his plans of acquring Chaos Emeralds and conquering the world, Eggman makes it his number one priority to destroy Sonic. For this task, he creates mechanical robots called Badniks and pits them against Sonic. After Sonic's several bouts with Dr. Starline - Eggman's assistant and co-conspirator - and a few run-ins with doctor himself, Sonic infiltrates Robotnik's stronghold, Scrap Brain Zone. After Sonic finally reaches the villians, Robotnik and Starline use their final contraption to end Sonic once and for all. However, they prove no match for Sonic's might, and the machine is demolished. Fleeing as fast as they can, Robotnik and Starline quickly abandon the laboratory as it crumbles to ruins. However, the doctors have one last trick up their sleeve: they're taking to the sky with their aerial blimp, the Sky Base Zone. Sonic eventually follows them up on the airship, where the true final battle ensues. After the battle, the doctors are beaten and escape from the airship, as it explodes and crashes somewhere in the sea, with Sonic narrowly escaping. Following his escape, Sonic finally returns to the vast Green Hills where his journey began. In the game's good ending (if player has collected all the Chaos Emeralds), Sonic uses the Chaos Emeralds to clear out the pollution's smog caused by Eggman's factories. After credits, a scene will appear where Eggman and Starline, in the depths of Scrap Brain's basement, are testing out their new weapon... In the game's bad ending (if player hasn't collected all the Chaos Emeralds), Robotnik uses any Chaos Emeralds that remained in his grasp to create a black hole and kill Sonic. Gameplay ''Sonic the Hedgehog: Genesis of a Hero plays identically to the original Sonic the Hedgehog game, except it has 2.5D graphics and new level design. The titular character can not only run and jump, but he can pick up incredible speed if uninterrupted and can roll into a ball and spin into enemies and up ramps with enough momentum, allowing him to launch himself high up into the air or through a stream of Badniks. There are seven zones in total, with each zone, barring the Final Zone, divided into three Acts each. Sonic must reach the end of each Act within 10 minutes while collecting items and avoiding hazards along the way. Essential to the gameplay are gold Rings scattered throughout each level, a feature which would become one of the defining characteristics of the series. These items are regularly placed around the level map and serve multiple functions. First, the player collects rings to protect Sonic. As long as they have at least one ring, the player will not lose a life when injured. Instead, when hit, up to twenty of the rings the player has collected will fly outward and scatter around the immediate area for some seconds, some of which can then be retrieved before they disappear. If the player runs into an enemy without a single ring, he/she will lose a life. If the player collects a hundred rings they will gain an extra life, and will gain an additional life for every hundred rings after that, provided the rings are not lost. If the player has at least fifty rings at the end of an act, a giant golden ring will float above the goal sign, which can be jumped through to enter one of the Secret Zones (this excludes the final act of a stage, when Sonic will enter a boss fight). At the end of each act, the total number of rings the player has is multiplied by a hundred and added to the player's score. During the score-tallying, the player can also jump through the air to find hidden emblems which can range from a hundred to 10,000 points. Also scattered throughout each level are Item Boxes which, when broken by the character will reward the player with one of a variety of bonuses. These include four types of shields which will protect Sonic from a single hit, a 10-ring bonus, an extra life, temporary Invincibility (accompanied by a temporary change in music), and "Speed Sneakers", which give the player a temporary speed boost (and increase the tempo of the music for the duration). Despite the various types of protection available, neither the shield, rings, nor invincibility will prevent the player losing a life if Sonic is crushed (by a trap or between a wall and a moving platform), drowned, runs out of time (each act has a ten-minute time limit), or falls into a bottomless pit. Progression through the game is made easier for the player by lamp posts that act as checkpoints. When Sonic passes a lamp post, the spherical top spins around and its color changes from blue to red, and the next time a life is lost, gameplay will restart at that point rather than at the beginning of the act. If a checkpoint is activated and a life is lost as a result of running out of time, the time at the checkpoint will reset to 0:00. Hazards the player experiences include a wide variety of "Badniks" - these appear as Animals trapped inside mechanical bodies which are released the moment the player hits them. Each badnik takes one hit to destroy, but they vary greatly from Zone to Zone; some will walk in a set path, others will try blasting the player, and some cannot be avoided at all. The player must also avoid rows of sharp spikes, cliffs, and elaborate death traps. There is also the threat of drowning (in Labyrinth Zone and the third Act of Scrap Brain Zone which contains water), as the player can only survive approximately thirty seconds underwater (locating air bubbles can extend this). Voice cast Unlike the original Sonic the Hedgehog, the game features voice acting of the characters: * Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog: An anthropomorphic hedgehog granted with super speed. which he fiercely uses to protect the world from various forces of evil, specifically Dr. Eggman and Dr. Starline. * Mike Pollock as Dr. Eggman: An evil and megalomaniac scientist with an IQ of 300. Eggman constantly tries to expand his Eggman Empire across the globe and conquer the world, but his attempts is always thwarted by Sonic. * Keith David as Dr. Starline: Dr. Eggman assistant and right-hand man. While he keeps a calculated and formal appeaance in most of his bouts with Sonic, he can get a little bit too excited around Eggman, showing that he's a big fan of the doctor. Zones * Green Hill Zone: ''The first zone of the game. The zone itself is a picturesque mountain paradise with green fields and beautiful blue lakes, large waterfall vistas, palm trees, rotating flowers, flora in various colors and totem poles of unknown origin. Perhaps most distinctively, the soil is checkered brown, and most of the local plant life appear to have unfamiliar geometric appearances to it. Obstacles include crumbling platforms and spikes. * ''Marble Zone: ''The second zone of the game. The zone combines the themes of ancient ruins, caves and lava. In contrast with the previous zone, Marble Zone involves more careful, slower-paced gameplay, such as requiring the player to negotiate moving platforms suspended by chains. * ''Spring Yard Zone: ''The third zone of the game. It's an urban level with many springs and bumpers, resembling a pinball machine. * ''Labyrinth Zone: ''The fourth zone of the game is a ruin-like maze zone partially submerged in water, containing the decaying remnants of an ancient civilization. It features many spikes, spears and water-driven contraptions. * [[Star Light Zone|''Star Light Zone]]: ''The fifth zone of the game. is a rather peaceful zone set in an urban environment at night, under the stars, and contains many unfinished highways. * ''Scrap Brain Zone: The sixth and penultimate zone of the game. It's a trap-filled industrial factory with much dangerous machinery such as saws, flame vents, and disappearing and rotating platforms. * [[Sky Base Zone|''Sky Base Zone]]: ''The seventh and final level of the game, available only through the collection of the six Chaos Emeralds. Act 1 sees the heroic hedgehog navigate his way through the exposed gantries and electric fields of the airship anchorage above Scrap Brain. In Act 2, Sonic, without any rings to protect him throughout the level, must brave the fearsome defenses on board the zeppelin itself; cannons, propeller blades, and of course the ever-present threat of falling thousands of feet to hedgehog-y oblivion.